Govt to probe Gurgaon land scam; Kasni to meet Khattar

CHANDIGARH: Amid controversy over the removal of Gurgaon divisional commissioner Pradeep Kasni, chief minister Manohar Lal Khattar on Wednesday called the officer for a meeting on Thursday.

Kasni had sought an appointment with the chief minister's office to meet Khattar over the issue. Kasni confirmed the development, adding that he would be coming to Chandigarh to meet the CM on Thursday morning. Just a month after taking over as Gurgaon divisional commissioner, Kasni was removed from the post on December 29 without citing any reason.

Meanwhile, making an official statement in the land scam exposed by Kasni, the government on Wednesday said that deputy commissioner of Gurgaon would investigate the matter within 15 days as per the orders of the outgoing divisional commissioner.

"The government will take a serious view, if some omissions or commissions are found in the investigation by Gurgaon collector (deputy commissioner)," said a spokesperson of the government on Wednesday.

On the basis of an inquiry, Kasni had revealed a "nexus" between revenue officials and land grabbers, revealing how government land worth crores situated in Harsaru village, which has almost become part of Gurgaon urban agglomeratation, was transferred to private companies three years back illegally and never taken back, despite the matter coming to the notice of senior officers.

On December 22, Kasni passed an order asking for registration of an FIR against a tehsildar for wrongly sanctioning six mutations related to Harsaru in 2011, apart from snatching powers from current district revenue officer of Gurgaon.

According to a government spokesperson, Kasni had observed that huge loss had been incurred to the state government by wrongful sanction of the mutations. "In view of the findings of inquiry conducted by Kasni, he had asked Gurgaon's collector to quickly crosscheck the facts and pass an order within 15 days to secure the interests of state government," said the spokesperson, adding that government had not received any "inquiry report" from Kasni.